Retaliation Protocol

The explosion came without warning.

Kael threw himself behind the command console as the bridge shuddered violently. Warning klaxons screamed. Sparks rained down from the ceiling as circuits overloaded.

"Deck 3 breach — rear port section! Shields flared, hull intact. Source: proximity mines!" Cortana's voice cut through the chaos with surgical precision.

Kael hit the deck, rolled back to his feet, and yanked the emergency controls to reroute auxiliary power. Aris was already at the lockdown panel, sealing off the lower corridor. Voro's voice snapped through the intercom.

"We've got drive core damage — minimal, but deliberate! That wasn't random. That was a message."

Kael's eyes narrowed.

"Visual confirmation on the attacker?"

Cortana's avatar flickered on the scorched wall display. "Negative. Stealth corvette. No registry. Engaged from extreme range, dropped cloaked mines, and jumped out clean."

"Someone predicted our exit vector," Aris muttered.

"Someone's been watching," Kael said. "And it wasn't a random pirate."

He turned toward the data console and pulled up system logs. Cortana pulsed into the interface, already halfway through her own sweep.

"There's no trace in MercNet," she confirmed. "No internal breach, no digital leakage. We're clean."

"Then how the hell—"

She cut him off.

"Wait. New data match just triggered. External scan — bounty broadcast. Shadownet."

Kael's jaw tightened. "Display it."

Above the console, a grainy image of him appeared. No name, no affiliation. Just a half-shadowed figure in armor. A bounty tag glowed beneath it:

TARGET: Unknown Mercenary (Codename: "Specter")

AFFILIATION: Unknown

REGION: Suspected Outer Rim

CONTRACT TYPE: Open — Lethal or Capture

PLACED BY: Sector Overboss Keln-Vorr (Black Sun)

VIA: Shadownet Exchange

BOUNTY: 65,000 credits

Aris leaned over his shoulder. "That's us."

"Not quite," Kael muttered. "It's a guess. A profile. They don't know who I am… but they know I'm a problem."

"And they just made it public."

Voro's voice crackled back over the line. "You want to lay low?"

Kael's response was immediate.

"No. We anchor."

The Specter drifted in high orbit above a shattered moon, limp and silent. Below, jagged cliffs split deep craters and frozen canyons in a maze of rock and blue ice. The team gathered around the holotable in the bridge.

"We've been nomads too long," Kael said. "It worked when we were small. Fast. But now we're building momentum. Connections. A reputation. That means enemies."

Voro nodded grimly. "And a ship can't dodge forever."

"We need a place to regroup," Kael continued. "A location we control. Hidden. Armed. Expandable."

"A base," Vox said. "You mean to settle."

"Not settle," Kael said. "Establish."

He opened his MercNet interface — visible only to him — and slid to the Strategic Infrastructure module.

[ QUERY: Viable outpost locations – Outer Rim – high concealment, unclaimed ]

[ SCANNING… ]

[ RESULT: 1 MATCH ]

Location: Vaskel-9

Classification: Abandoned mining station

Status: Partial dome integrity, fusion core inactive, emergency beacon operational

Ownership: Formerly Techno Union (classified private claim)

Risk: Unknown

Distance: 3 jump points

Kael studied the readout.

"Old mining moon. Private corp operation. Likely Techno Union. No contact since the last galactic expansion phase."

Aris raised an eyebrow. "Anything still alive down there?"

Kael shrugged. "Probably not. But even if it's just rust and rock, we can work with it."

"Let's hope the walls aren't full of brainworms or feral droids," Voro muttered.

Kael turned toward the pilot chair. "Prep for jump."

Vaskel-9 was a pale, dead sphere orbiting a twin gas giant system, its crust fractured and cratered like a shattered skull. The Specter dropped out of hyperspace and entered polar descent.

Then came the ping.

A slow, rhythmic tone — barely detectable — echoed across their short-range scans.

"Old Republic distress signal," Cortana said. "It's on a loop. Origin matches the coordinates."

The dome appeared next — half-buried in stone, surrounded by broken mining rigs and crumbling scaffolding. Faint blue glow lines traced across its exposed surface — inactive power veins.

They landed on a flat ridge, just outside the structure. Dust kicked up around the Specter's ramp as Kael, Aris, Voro, and Vox descended, weapons ready.

The dome groaned under their boots.

Inside, the place was dark. Still. Silent.

But intact.

Steel corridors stretched deep into the mountain. Crates. Rust. Signs of rushed departure. No bodies.

They reached the control room in ten minutes. The central console was dusty but whole.

Kael stepped forward and inserted a relay spike. Cortana appeared, linking directly.

[ CONNECTING… ]

[ SYSTEM: TECHCORP MODULAR BASE – DESIGNATION: AEGIS NODE-9 ]

[ STATUS: DERELICT ]

Life Support: Minimal (local only)

Fabrication Lab: 43% functional

Defense Grid: Offline

Fusion Core: INACTIVE

Memory Nodes: Encrypted

Beacon: Active (manual disable required)

Kael looked around. The place felt… hollow. But promising.

"This is it."

Cortana projected a schematic of the base, highlighting structural integrity points and viable repair paths. "We can revive the core using Specter's auxiliary power. That'll give us time to fabricate temporary living quarters and interface hubs."

"And defenses?" Aris asked.

Cortana hesitated. "The old grid's intact but non-functional. We'll need materials to restore the turrets — or install a new defense layer."

Kael looked at his crew.

"Then let's make it ours."

[ NEW BASE UNLOCKED – Outpost Aegis | Vaskel-9 ]

Status: Semi-Derelict

Passive Benefits:

– Passive XP gain while stationed

– System-linked Storage & Vehicle Fabrication

– Unlocks local upgrade and defense options

Development Objectives:

▸ Restore Fusion Core (Main)

▸ Reboot Fabrication Suite

▸ Shield Dome Construction (Optional)

▸ Establish Hangar Integration (Optional)

▸ Unlock Summon Integration Bay (Requires Kael Level 15)

Hidden Feature: Encrypted Memory Cluster – [Locked]

Kael stood at the cracked viewport, gazing out over the silent ridges and dark sky.

They had a home now.

Not much of one. Not yet.

But it was a start.

Cortana materialized beside him in pale blue light. "You know this'll make them angrier."

Kael didn't blink.

"Let them come."